The always frank Nintendo president Satoru Iwata isn’t taking the Wii’s breakout success for granted. With 70 million units sold and counting, he feels the company faltered from a marketing standpoint, which had a negative impact on the Wii’s effective lifespan.

Iwata says the mindset stems from Nintendo’s reliance on itself. Going forward, Iwata wants to team with outside partners to bolster marketing efforts.

“I now regret that we didn’t tie up with someone outside the company to market the Wii. If we had done that, the fate of the Wii might have been different,” conceded Iwata at a recent investor conference.

He added, “Now I am aware that we should not rely too much on ourselves. You will see what I mean by this when we market the 3DS and the Wii in the future.”

Thanks, Reuters.

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